


Rescue Mission (Curse of Lethe outtakes)

by shiiki



Series: The Curse of Lethe [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-01-17 05:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12358347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiiki/pseuds/shiiki
Summary: While Annabeth, Percy, Nico, Will, and Thalia travel through Tartarus, their friends embark on a quest to find Thanatos and bring the Doors to Death to them. A companion piece toThe Curse of Lethe.





	1. Senate Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is dedicated to my wonderful readers of _CoL_ : first, my betas **preciouschildrenofolympus** and **supernaturally-percyjackson** , who have encouraged me so much with both the original story and the outtakes—and thank you, **preciouschildrenofolympus** for looking these chapters over! And also, you wonderful readers who have shown so much enthusiasm for seeing more of the story! Thank you for your comments and I hope you enjoy these outtakes!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyna, Frank, and Hazel convince the Roman senate to allow them to undertake their quest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place in the background after [chapter 7 of CoL](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11802306/chapters/26675790). It spins off from the summary of events in [chapter 17](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11802306/chapters/26761257) (and following chapters will follow the rescue team's adventure while the main group were in Tartarus). Also, Reyna insisted that I give her more screen time. That girl is a force of nature!

**VII.S  
REYNA**

Much as Reyna hated to admit it, there were times when the Roman way paled in comparison to the Greek way.

Listening to the senate debate for hours on the merits of the quest Frank had motioned was one of them. 

To be fair, she'd always taken pride in the Roman system. Their structured system of discussion and voting on whether a quest was reasonable was a good way to ensure that quests were only undertaken for the good of the legion and that heroes were well-supported. It had been her proudest moment when she'd been nominated to the senate—the same time she'd been crowned praetor, incidentally—and she'd served faithfully until last summer, when she'd retired to attend college.

Reyna wished right now that she hadn't given up the position. She would much rather be at the podium leading the discussion than sitting in the advisor seats listening to it proceed.

Frank had explained the situation very, well, _frankly_. Straightforward and earnest—that was Frank. Usually it worked. The legionnaires respected his tact and sincerity. In the years Reyna had worked with him, she'd appreciated his ability to approach all petitions fairly. 

But this situation wasn't usual. This wasn't the run-of-the-mill petition for a quest, to be weighed logically on its relative merits and drawbacks for the legion. This quest wasn't even technically _about_ the legion. If the senate was going to be convinced, Frank needed to put a more persuasive spin on it.

Hazel might have been better at that, but she was too new, little more than a month into her praetorship and senate seat. She might have been nominated fairly for both positions, but that hadn't silenced all the grumbles—mostly from her disgruntled competitors—that she technically hadn't satisfied the minimal five years of service typically required for nomination. Neither, for that matter, had Frank.

The politics were a mess.

Reyna should know; she'd faced the same resistance herself when she'd been elected praetor in the wake of the Battle of Mount Othrys with barely a year of service under her belt. Never mind that she'd galvanised the entire legion for the assault and led the charge so that Jason could tackle Krios. No matter how well-deserved the position was, no matter how admirably you served, there were always going to be naysayers who balked whenever rules were bent. And that wasn't going to help their case now.

Nor did it help that the current male centurion of Reyna's old cohort, who had been nominated in Reyna's place as the representative for the fourth, was an idiot. Augustus was currently bringing up counterarguments to Frank's earnest proposition, point by point. From the look on Hazel's face, the son of Janus was this close to being clonked in the head with a summoned gold nugget.

Reyna wouldn't blame her. She'd like to get in a few solid hits herself. Or maybe set Aurum and Argentum on the harpy-brained fool until he shut up.

As the senate continued to argue back and forth, Reyna put her head in her hands and tried not to scream in frustration. Eventually, given the lack of progress, they would reach the point where they'd make an official motion for advice—which she'd give unequivocally in favour of Frank and Hazel, of course—but waiting for them to get around to it chafed like an ill-fitting shoe. Her patience was sorely blistered. 

It didn't help that Reyna longed to circumvent the whole system, just this once, and commandeer every resource the legion had to offer. A quest had seldom held this much personal significance for her. It was impossible to think logically when she knew that Percy, Annabeth, and Nico—three of her best friends in the world—were headed to Tartarus. Most likely they had already arrived there. And with them were Will—whom Reyna barely knew, but had impressed her with his courage in stepping up to the task—and Thalia.

If she were to be perfectly honest, her heightened anxiety for Thalia went beyond her concern for her other friends. That was something else that was completely illogical. Of the five of them, Thalia was (as she'd pointed out herself) the best suited for the mission. She was a daughter of Jupiter—Zeus—and an immortal to boot. Although she _was_ perfectly capable of dying in combat, she also had the unerring skill of a Hunter.

Which hadn't saved the Hunters who had fallen to Orion in the Battle of San Juan.

Nor had it kept Reyna from holding Thalia at knifepoint on their very first meeting. 

Reyna wasn't sure exactly when she'd become so attached to the leader of the Hunters. They'd crossed paths occasionally after the Giant War, infrequently at first, and then increasingly often as the Hunters had more and more to do with the Amazons and Camp Jupiter. At first, Thalia had reminded Reyna of her sister Hylla—both were strong-willed, gutsy, and had a take-no-prisoners attitude that Reyna respected. The two would have been close in age, too, had Thalia not stopped ageing a day before her sixteenth birthday. Maybe that was why unlike Hylla, Thalia didn't seem to view Reyna as a little sister.

Or maybe it was because Thalia judged people as they were and not as others saw them. She never seemed to care either what anyone thought of her, and she wasn't afraid to do whatever she had to, whatever she believed to be right. 

If Reyna had been the one bound for Tartarus, she had a feeling Thalia wouldn't stand for a lengthy debate on whether she should be allowed to go on the rescue mission. 

Instead, it was the other way round, with Thalia putting her trust in Reyna to come after them.

' _Be careful,_ ' Reyna had said to Thalia before they parted. 

Thalia had replied, ' _No fear. I'm counting on you to get us out, Praetor._ '

' _I'm not a praetor any more,_ ' Reyna had reminded her.

Thalia had raised her eyebrows. ' _Once a praetor, always a praetor, wouldn't you say?_ '

'This is ridiculous!' Augustus exploded, drawing Reyna's attention back to the debate. 'We're talking about sending _both_ our praetors on a wild Gryphon chase after a bunch of _Greek_ demigods, who by the sound of it _chose_ to go jump into a deadly pit. The existence of which, by the way, is still in question.'

In the second row behind him, several _lares_ nodded approvingly.

'Dereliction of duty!' one chorused, glaring at Hazel.

'Waste of resource!' interjected another with a flick of the pompous-looking feather on his translucent helmet. 

'We told you,' Hazel said through gritted teeth, 'they went to Tartarus to save Percy's life. And it _is_ a real place.'

'Oh? And you know this how? Been there, have you?'

'My brother has. You know—the _ambassador of Pluto?_ Are you calling him a liar?'

'I wouldn't dare, daughter of Pluto,' said Augustus icily.

'And that's another thing,' mused Larry from the second cohort. 'Do we really still need an ambassador given that our new praetor is herself a daughter of Pluto?'

'That's not what we're here to discuss,' said his counterpart Ophelia. 'We're debating the quest Praetor Zhang has brought to the table. And I've presented my evidence—the auguries read Death in their journey.' She shook a gutted stuffed panda in their faces.

'Because we have to _find_ Death to complete the quest.' Reyna didn't know how Frank managed to sound so patient. Then again, she had herself presided over plenty of senate meetings with insufferable centurions and managed to keep her cool. It was part of the job. 

'The point,' said Michael Kahale of the first, 'isn't about whether Tartarus is a place, or what the steps of the quest will be. It's whether we should be activating Roman resources—our people or our supplies—to undertake it.'

'Exactly!' Augustus lifted his hands in triumph. 'I don't get why we're even debating this for so long.' He glared at Frank. 'You're not asking for a quest to further the interests of the legion, or even to serve the gods. You're asking to hare off on a personal mission.'

Reyna finally had enough. To Pluto with procedure. She was past caring that she was supposed to wait for the senate to request her advice. The way things were going, that would take at least another hour. Who knew how much time they had to get to Thalia—and Nico and the others, of course—with the Doors of Death?

She sprang to her feet and slammed her fist on the table, grabbing the senate's attention at once. 'Senators,' she began.

'Advisor.' Leila, the other centurion of the fourth cohort, spoke respectfully. 'You—'

'We have yet to solicit your advice.' Augustus locked eyes with Reyna. From the gleam in them, he was clearly enjoying the power of his seat. Great Bellona, here was another Octavian in the making. Frank and Hazel were definitely going to have to keep an eye on him in the future. 

'And I'm not giving advice,' Reyna said coldly. 'I've been listening to you go round in circles for hours. I'm _telling_ you now—'

'My dear _ex_ -Praetor,' Augustus said smoothly, 'you of all people should appreciate the sanctity of the senate's decision processes. After all, it is this procedure that safeguards the interest of the legion from the foolhardy actions of single members. Without it…why, we may as well be Greeks.'

'In case you've forgotten, _Centurion,_ our two camps are currently allied. Snide remarks about the Greeks will win you no favours. More to the point, there is one thing Romans and Greeks have in common—we do not abandon our own.'

Augustus's eyes narrowed. 'Our own, you say? I beg your pardon, Advisor, but I sense that your—ah—loyalties may be more aligned with those of our praetors than—'

'You'd better not be insinuating what I think you are.'

'No, no merely pointing out that you have past history with the Greek demigods in question. And the Amazon girl—'

'She's a Hunter of Artemis, you imbecile,' Reyna snapped. 'And all of you—' She let her gaze trail slowly over each member of the senate in turn. It was a technique she'd used to great effect during her praetorship. Few legionnaires had the guts to hold her steely glare. 'Have you completely missed the point that we're talking about saving the life of an _ex-praetor of New Rome?_ ' Her voice was rising and she made no effort to reign her temper back in. 'It doesn't matter what personal friendships we have with the Greeks.'

She pointed at Michael. 'You ask what benefit the legion stands to gain—does the life of a previous praetor who delivered New Rome from deadly attack mean nothing to the legion?'

She turned to Leila. 'You all elected Percy Jackson praetor three years ago. Once a praetor of Rome, always a praetor of Rome. Like it or not, he is important to the legion.'

She fixed her glare on Larry. 'So is the ambassador of Pluto. Nico di Angelo commands the full spectrum of powers of the Underworld and has used it in service of us all. Or have you forgotten his role in delivering the Athena Parthenos across the Mare Nostrum to bring peace to our camps?'

Finally, she returned to Augustus. 'And Thalia Grace, daughter of Jupiter, is the leader of the Hunters of Artemis. If Diana herself sent her lieutenant on a quest to save Percy Jackson, I wouldn't presume to dismiss the quest so quickly.' She might be over-reaching somewhat on this last bit—she had no idea whether Thalia actually had permission to undertake the quest. But then, neither did the senate.

'That may be so,' said Augustus, and Reyna was pleased to hear a shaky note in his voice. 'But why is it the legion's responsibility? Surely the Greeks or the Hunters would be—er—better poised for a—ah—rescue mission?'

'Are you suggesting, Centurion, that the legion shirks responsibility and pawns it onto another group?'

Augustus shifted uneasily in his seat as the other members of the senate turned to glare at him. He muttered something under his breath that sounded like, ' _Gods didn't put this on_ us,' but shook his head when Reyna raised her eyebrows, daring him to clarify.

Reyna hid her smile. She was getting through to them.

'You spoke of personal friendships, Centurion. The legion's success is built on personal connections. Favours and debts are passed down from generation to generation. Veterans of the legion remain honour-bound to serve even after they leave the legion. How many times have personal favours from veterans assisted us on our quests? Perhaps taking on a quest as a personal favour to those to whom we owe a debt of friendship is _precisely_ the Roman way. And no one can argue that we owe these demigods an enormous debt.'

'Well!' thundered a voice. 'At least _someone_ here is speaking sense.'

Reyna whirled around. The doors to the Senate House had been flung open. A solid, muscular man wearing a long, black beard and a bizarre, Hawaiian-print toga was framed in the doorway. He was so tall, his messy black hair brushed the top of the doorframe. Reyna had never seen him before. Judging by the bewildered looks on the rest of the senators' faces, neither had they. 

'Um, sir, this is a closed session,' Leila piped up.

'I was under the impression that all of New Rome was open to its patrons,' said Hawaiian-toga. He moved uncomfortably in it, as though unused to the garment. Hank, the straight-laced centurion of the third cohort, frowned as Hawaiian-toga came walking down the main aisle, revealing the flip-flops on his bare feet. The legion ghosts, however, were completely silent—the first clue that this man was someone important. Usually, the _lares_ were greater sticklers for regulation-standard attire than even Hank.

'Can't believe I'm agreeing with Athena, but I _hate_ taking Roman form,' muttered Hawaiian-toga. He held out his hand and a long, three-pronged weapon materialised in his grasp: a golden trident, its points sharp and gleaming.

Frank dropped the papers in his hand. 'You're—'

'Lord Neptune,' Reyna said in wonder. The god of the sea had _never_ appeared to a Roman in living memory. 

Neptune shrank a little as he came forward, but he still towered over them all. 'Someone called for a god's blessing on the quest?'

'Er, not exactly, but we'd appreciate it,' Frank said.

Neptune scratched his scruffy black beard. 'Right, then, you're all blessed—is that how this goes? It's been millennia since I've issued a Roman quest.'

'Uh—typically if the gods are ordering a quest, they provide the accompanying prophecy,' Ophelia said. 'Unless the augury I read will do…'

'No, too bleak,' Neptune said. 'Where's a good Oracle when you need one?'

Ophelia scowled, but gave no further indication that she was chafing at the implied insult.

Neptune shrugged. 'Good thing I had Apollo write me something before I came.' He hiked up his toga—treating them all to a brief glimpse of his finely-shaped _podex_ in the process—and pulled out a battered scroll from somewhere inside his toga. 'This is hot off the press.'

Neptune held out the prophecy scroll, but before Frank could take it, he yanked it back.

'Oh, sorry. Forgot to add—' There was a lot of yelping and covering of heads as Neptune spun his trident in one hand. It shrank to the size of a pen and he flipped it around so that the shaft end (which had in fact become a ballpoint pen not unlike the one Percy Jackson always carried) faced down. He underlined something on the scroll, thought for a moment, then added in a large scrawl at the top of the prophecy lines: _By order of the Lord of the Sea._

Neptune examined the scroll one last time before tossing it back to Frank, who unrolled it and read aloud:

' _Fire finds Death due east_  
Doors set deep, family saves  
The dagger tells the time.'

Ophelia blinked. 'That's not a prophecy, that's a—'

'Haiku.' Neptune shrugged again. 'What can I say, that's Apollo's thing these days.'

'But—'

'Are you contesting the god of prophecy's prophecy?'

Ophelia shook her head quickly.

'Right then, that's my job done.' Neptune frowned at Frank, looking remarkably like Percy as he did so—if Percy's face was more weather-beaten and wrinkled, that was. 'You look familiar. Are you one of mine?'

'Um, my dad's actually Mars, but yeah, my mom's family—er—we're descended from Periclymenus.'

'Ah. Thought one of the line went Roman a century or so ago. Didn't work out so well, if I recall.'

'No, sir,' Frank murmured. 'That was my great-grandfather.'

Neptune grinned. 'Well, never mind that. Praetor, are you?' He pointed his trident at Frank. To Frank's credit, he didn't even flinch when the three prongs were aimed at his chest. 'Good. See to it you get my son and his girlfriend back in one piece. Oh, and the others, too, I suppose.'

Lightning flashed across the ceiling and the Senate House shook. 'My brothers concur,' Neptune announced. 'Now get on with it. I gotta go.'

Reyna averted her eyes as Neptune vanished in a blaze of aquamarine light, leaving ten stunned senators and a dozen silent ghosts staring gape-mouthed at the spot where he'd been. 

'I believe my point about the importance of rescuing our friends is made,' Reyna said dryly. ' _And_ that solves the issue of whether this quest is sanctioned by a god.' She looked across the row of senators. 'Any further arguments?'

The senators shook their heads in unison. Most of them still looked shell-shocked at Neptune's unprecedented appearance (Larry had even forgotten to shut his jaw), although Augustus seemed a bit miffed that Neptune, of all _Di Consentes_ , was their patron. 

'I trust there will be no problems arranging transportation?'

'A car will do nicely,' Hazel added, recovering quickly. 

'You're actually entitled to more than just a simple car, Hazel,' Reyna reminded her. 'You and Frank are both praetors and you're leading the quest.' She scanned the senators. 'Who oversees transportation now?'

'Claudia,' said Frank.

'Get the best, Claudia,' Reyna ordered. 'And the fastest.'

The wiry third-cohort centurion sprung to her feet immediately. 'On it, Advisor,' she said, with a shaky salute. She all but sprinted from the room in her hurry to obey.

'Wait,' Augustus protested. 'Who will be the third companion?'

An awkward silence fell. The other senate members exchanged looks like, _nope, not it!_ and carefully avoided meeting Frank's eyes.

'I will,' Reyna said.

'But—but—you're retired—' Augustus spluttered.

Reyna raised an eyebrow. 'I believe the rule is that within half a year of retirement, a legionnaire may still receive support for a quest as long as they retired in good standing. I trust you will find my credentials are impeccable.'

Augustus subsided with a quick bow. 'Yes, of course.'

'Besides,' Reyna said archly, 'I don't see any of you volunteering.'

'Reyna, Hazel, and I will do just fine,' Frank said. 'We'll set off right away—as soon as Claudia has our vehicle ready, that is.'

'You'll need to organise letters of reference, too, won't you? In case you need help from veterans along the way,' said Michael.

'Don't bother,' Hazel said. 'We'll definitely have help. Greek help.' She gave Augustus a dirty look as if to add, _and they won't need to debate it ten ways to Hades before jumping on board._

'We'll be fine,' Frank repeated. 'Um—I guess that's all, then. Thank you senators.' He somehow managed to say it without a trace of irony in his tone. 'Dismissed.'

Once the rest of the senate had filed out into the forum, Hazel turned to Reyna. 

'Wow,' she said, her eyes wide. 'Reyna, that was—'

'Not very Roman-like, I know.'

Hazel shook her head. 'You were amazing. The Greeks would be proud.'

'The Greeks _are_ proud,' said a voice from the gallery.

Reyna, Hazel, and Frank whirled around. 

'Jason! Piper!' Hazel raised her arms to embrace the grinning girl coming towards them. Jason held out his hand to fist-bump Frank.

'How did you two get in here?' Reyna asked, amazed.

'Hey, I'm the _pontifex maximus_ , aren't I?' Jason said.

Piper rolled her eyes. 'I sweet-talked the guard ghost.'

'I'm sure they would've let me in anyway. I'm an ex-praetor, too. Once a praetor of Rome…'

'Nice of you to step in and help, in that case,' Reyna said sarcastically.

Jason held up his hands. 'You were doing a great job on your own. Anyway, Greek help here at your service.' He saluted Hazel and grinned at Reyna. 'First-class transport, did you say? It's been a while since I got the limo treatment. The last time was—what, the quest for the Imperial gold torpedoes?'

'You've been in my dad's limo in L.A.!' Piper reminded him.

'Oh, wait till you see the legion ones,' Jason told her. 'Even your dad's cars haven't got anything on these. Then again, I think some of them were actually donated by movie star veterans.'

'At any rate,' Reyna said, 'there's plenty of room for all of us. I'm glad you're here.'

And she was. Jason wasn't just one of her oldest friends; he'd been her fellow praetor, whom she'd trusted for years to have her back. Ironically, he was also Thalia's brother. Reyna might have chalked up her attraction to Thalia as the remnants of an old crush she'd had on Jason, if not for the fact that Thalia was the complete antithesis of Jason's golden-boy persona. Although a few years of living Greek—and no doubt Piper's influence as well—had worn away some of his perfect polish, Reyna still couldn't see any of Thalia's scrappy fighter nature in Jason. Where Thalia's entire person always seemed vividly alive, with her intense blue eyes that practically crackled with electricity, her brother wore the same eye colour—the only feature the Grace siblings shared—in a softer, more easy-going way.

When had she begun to think of Jason as Thalia's brother instead of the other way round?

Reyna shook her head and directed her attention back to the conversation at hand.

'Before Claudia comes back with our ride, we should probably figure out where we're headed,' Frank said. 'Hazel, do you know where to find Thanatos?'

Hazel tapped her lip with one finger. 'He's not in the Underworld,' she said after a pause. 'I don't sense him there. I don't sense the others down there either, for that matter. I guess that means…'

She didn't need to finish the sentence. If their friends were no longer in the Underworld, it could only mean one thing.

'Then we need to pin down Thanatos quickly,' Jason said. 'He shows up when someone's about to die, right? What if one of us almost dies—?'

Piper gave him an incredulous look. 'Hello, that could go wrong so many ways!'

Reyna motioned for Rank to hand her Neptune's prophecy scroll. She studied it for a minute. The sea god had underlined the word _family_ , but she couldn't figure out why.

'Well,' she said finally, 'I haven't seen any prophecies in this form before, but I imagine the first line tells us how we'll find Thanatos.'

' _Fire finds Death,_ ' murmured Frank. He rummaged under his toga and brought out a carefully-wrapped cloth package. 'Maybe—if this stick burns almost to its end—if I control it carefully, I could _almost_ die, like Jason suggested.'

Piper raised her eyebrows. 'You can control your own death?'

'No he can't!' Hazel cut in. She put her hands on her hips and glared at Frank. 'You're not burning up your lifeline, Frank. And I think Death wouldn't show up until someone's _actually_ dead.'

Frank held up his hands—and the mysterious package—in surrender. 'Well, how do you suggest we track him down? It's not like he's being held hostage this time. He's probably moving around collecting souls as we speak.'

'Fire finds Death _due east,_ ' Reyna read out. 'That's our first clue—we head east.'

'News flash, we're on the West Coast,' Piper reminded them. ' _Everything_ is due east.'

'Camp Half-Blood is on the East Coast,' Jason mused. 'Maybe we have to go there?'

'But why would we have to? And that'll take _ages_ —it took us more than a week the first time we ferried the exchange heroes across with—' Piper broke off suddenly. 'Oh my gods. _Fire_ finds Death.'

'What?' said Jason.

Hazel's jaw dropped. 'That's it! Fire—Piper, you're a genius!'

Reyna crossed her arms. 'Can someone please explain what's going on?'

'Who do we know who can control fire _and_ track down stuff that's hard to find?' said Piper triumphantly.

The boys looked at each other. ' _LEO,_ ' they said in unison.

'The kid who tried to blow up New Rome?' Reyna said dubiously. Leo Valdez was the only member of the old Giant War quest team whom she'd barely interacted with. Her one prominent memory of him was of Octavian accusing him of firing on the forum—followed by an all-out brawl between the Romans and Greeks.

'The hero who blew up Gaia,' Piper corrected.

Right, that had been him, too. Reyna winced. 'Of course, sorry.'

'He already got around death once, he found Ogygia twice, and he made his way back here.' Hazel ticked off each feat on her fingers. 'And he's east of here.'

Piper nodded. 'If anyone can track Death, it'll be Mr Hot Stuff himself.' She blanched. 'Don't tell him I said that.'

It seemed like the best solution they could find. Reyna just hoped Valdez wasn't too far from here. 'Okay, I guess that's the plan.'

'Let's go find Claudia and the limo, then,' Jason said. 'Looks like we're headed for Indiana.'


	2. The Waystation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hazel and the others seek Leo's help in Indianapolis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter runs roughly parallel to chapter 9-13 of CoL (time is difficult in Tartarus!)

**IX.S  
HAZEL**

Hazel had to hand it to the Roman limousines—they were speedy. Not as quick as Arion, whom she'd regretfully left behind (the fastest horse in the world could have covered the two thousand miles to Indiana in hours, but it wouldn't have done them any good if their chariot had crumbled to pieces beneath them halfway there), but fast enough that the prairie was a blur as they sped along the I80. The elegantly decorated interior was also way more spacious and comfortable than a rickety chariot.

'I could get used to this,' Frank admitted, running his hand along the cushioned leather seats. They were a deep, royal purple, trimmed with gold, and bore the _SPQR_ emblem on every headrest. 'I didn't realise we could get stuff like this.'

'Me neither.' Hazel drummed her fingers on the narrow bar table in front of them. It was even fully stocked—with Pepsi and Kool-Aid, of course. 'I just hope we don't end up trashing it.'

Piper looked up. She'd cracked open a can of Pepsi, but it stood untouched on the table next to her dagger, Katoptris, which she was studying intently. 

'Well, Leo can fix it for us if it comes to that,' she said. 'He does run a garage.'

'He knows we're coming, right?' Frank asked.

'Yeah. Jason sent an Iris-message to get the address. We haven't had a chance to visit since Leo and Calypso opened their garage.' Piper shook her dagger and knocked it against the table a few times. 'Oh, come on!'

'What's wrong?' Hazel asked.

'I'm trying to look for Annabeth. I've gotten better at coaxing Katoptris to show me the right stuff, but the visions keep going fuzzy. It's like the wifi in Jason's dorm room—the stupid signal never stops flickering.' Piper held up the dagger. All Hazel could discern were a few shadowy blobs reflected in the blade.

'It's probably Tartarus,' she reasoned. 'It can't be easy to project anything down there.'

Piper banged Katoptris against the table again. The image winked out, the blade's surface going completely blank. Piper sighed. 'I did manage to get one vision earlier. They reached the shrine of Hermes. I hope Travis and Connor remembered to keep the food burning. I hate that that's all we can do for them.'

'It isn't,' Hazel said. 'We're getting them out, remember?' She looked at the translucent partition separating them from the driver seats, where Jason was currently directing Reyna as she drove. 'We've got to be nearing Indianapolis by now.'

'Almost there,' Jason promised, glancing back.

It was shortly after midnight when they pulled up by the kerbside next to a building with green window frames and doors. Reyna put the limo in park and Jason hopped out, looking from a slip of paper in his hand to the inverted-U sign that said _UNION STATION_ in gold letters.

'This can't be right,' Piper said, stepping out of the limo. 'It's a railway station.'

'That's the address Leo gave me—260 South Meridian Street.'

Hazel and Frank came out to join the others. Their limo was the only vehicle on the street, which dipped under a metal railway bridge right in front of them. Across from them was the entrance to a multi-storey parking garage. Nothing around here even hinted at being a potential residence of Leo Valdez. There was an eerie silence to the dark streets. The only noise was a low hiss that might be water running through the sewer pipes that supplied the street-side fire hydrant.

'It seems pretty deserted for a railway station,' Hazel said.

'I'm gonna kill—look out!' Piper screamed.

From the entrance to the parking garage came a burst of fire. Hazel yelped and dove aside, knocking her knee hard against the hydrant.

The hissing wasn't from running water. It was coming from a stubby, lime-green snake with a jagged white ring of scales encircling its head. The fire, too, had spouted from the jaws of the ferret-sized reptile, which was now eyeing them with an evil glint in its mustard-coloured eyes.

'Basilisks,' said Frank. 'I hate these things.'

To Hazel's horror, more snakes were joining the first, slithering out from the parking garage. The concrete sizzled under their poisonous bellies, leaving a scorched trail in their wake.

'Stay back!' Piper said, brandishing Katoptris. Hazel almost stepped away from Piper herself; such was the force of Piper's Charmspeak. The basilisks swayed for a second as though hypnotised, giving Jason and Frank time to grab their weapons from the limo. Jason retrieved his _gladius_ and extended it into a javelin, chucking it at the first basilisk just as it broke from Piper's spell and snapped at her heels.

Reyna gave a sharp whistle. A pair of greyhounds—her gold and silver automatons—descended out of nowhere, metallic fangs bared. The silver dog snapped a basilisk in half and spat out its ashes with a whimper. Steam rose from its jaws, the points of which had been corroded away.

'Argentum!' Reyna ran to the silver dog.

'Their skin's poisonous!' Frank said, as he fended off an attack with a spear. 'Imperial gold can hurt them, but anything else it touches—'

Piper swore as a basilisk lunged for her. She beat it back with her handbag, wisely not risking Katoptris. The bag disintegrated the moment it touched the snakeskin. Hazel leapt to her friend's aid with her _spatha_.

The snakes kept pouring out of the parking garage in overwhelming numbers. It was like being caught in a swarm of wasps. Reyna had sent her dogs away and was now slicing at the basilisks with her Imperial gold sword. Frank speared as many as he could, while Jason managed to fry a bunch with a well-timed bolt of lightning. Piper ducked into the limo and exchanged Katoptris for a gold javelin. Hazel herself jabbed and stabbed with her _spatha_. 

One of the basilisks slithered forward. It dodged Hazel's swing and spat fire at her, setting her shoe alight. Hazel shrieked and kicked off her shoe, tripping and landing hard on her bum in the process. The basilisk reared its ugly, crowned head, ready to strike. 

'Hazel!' Frank yelled. He started to run towards her.

Before Frank could reach her, something whizzed over Hazel's head. It slammed into the basilisk, knocking it back. The snake swayed dizzily and keeled over next to the weapon that had hit it—which turned out to be a solid gold wrench.

'Hit the ground!' yelled a familiar voice.

Hazel covered her head with her hands. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the others flatten themselves on the sidewalk. A wall of fire sped over their heads and hit the attacking basilisks. To Hazel's surprise, the basilisks darted backwards, away from the flames.

Who'd have thought fire-breathing snakes could be driven back by fire?

'Fight fire with fire,' said Leo, stepping forward to reclaim his wrench. 'Hi guys. Just a sec—' He put the wrench to the valve of the fire hydrant and twisted it open. The hydrant went off in a spray of water that smelt sharply of wormwood. The moment the water hit the pavement, the basilisks scattered in a panic. Within seconds, the streets were empty again.

Leo wrenched the hydrant shut and wiped his hands on his cargo pants.

'Sorry about that,' he said. 'We've been dealing with an infestation since Cal started growing moonlace. They've become quite the pests.' He reached out a hand to help Hazel to her feet. 'Anyway, welcome to the Waystation.'

'The what?' She winced as she put weight on her bare, burnt foot. Frank hurried over and slipped an arm around her waist for support. 

Leo grinned and pointed to the brick building behind him. Where there had been solid wall before, there was now a metal chute sticking out like the end of a slide on a child's playground. 

'Good exit, but we'll need an easier entrance, Waystation,' he said to the building. As if it understood this, the chute contorted with a grinding noise and became a flight of stairs leading into an interior tunnel.

Hazel should have been used to weird stuff by now. After all, she'd taken Leo's amazing ship halfway across the world and had herself used the Mist to twist the appearance of Pasiphäe's Labyrinth. But this building really took the cake when it came to magical construction.

'Did you _build_ this place?' she asked, awestruck, as Leo led them up the stairs into a long passage lit by candles in bronze sconces along the walls. The opening onto South Meridian Street closed up automatically behind them, probably returning the building's exterior to its original brick wall façade. There was a hum in the bricks that vibrated with magic. It wasn't the Mist, but something else, something almost alive. 

'Nah,' said Leo. 'Just found it.'

The walls rumbled. Leo patted them fondly. 'Sorry, I mean, it found us.' He said it the way he might speak to his automated dragon, Festus. The walls seemed to purr in response. A door swung open out of nowhere, nearly hitting Frank in the nose. He stumbled back. Hazel, who was clutching his arm for support, nearly lost her balance.

'What the—'

'Thanks, Waystation,' Leo said. He nodded at Hazel's injured foot. 'Come on, let's get that sorted before we talk.'

'Wow,' said Piper. The room was obvious an infirmary, given the immaculate row of beds, all neatly made with their sheets pulled into tight hospital corners. However, it was even better equipped than the university hospital in New Rome. An array of medical machinery Hazel couldn't name (X-ray's were already complicated enough for her) lined the far wall. Opposite the beds were glass cabinets stocked to the brim with supplies: jars and bottles and assorted tools that Hazel assumed had surgical purposes. In the back corner of the room, a glass panel separated the medical bay from a solarium, inside which a bevy of colourful snakes basked under a heat lamp.

'Not bad, eh?' Leo tapped on a cabinet. There was a clinking noise inside it, like a few glasses being shuffled around, then the cabinet door swung open and a clear bottle slid into Leo's waiting hand. Leo passed it to Hazel. 'There you go—nectar.'

'Holy Aphrodite, Leo, you've been keeping this a secret this whole time?' said Piper.

Leo held up his hands in a gesture like, _what could I do?_ 'I would've told you, but it wasn't really my secret, you know? This place is really—'

He was interrupted by the appearance of a button-nosed kid with pipe cleaners wound in her frizzy brown hair. 'Leo, Mom-Emmie says—' The girl stopped short when she saw Hazel and the others.

'Hey, Georgie,' Leo said. 'Shouldn't you be in bed, kiddo? Never mind, go tell your moms we have visitors, okay?'

Georgie nodded and disappeared down the hall. 

'Um, Leo, exactly how many people live here?' Jason said. He sounded about as flabbergasted as Hazel felt. Whatever she'd expected Leo's new place to be, a labyrinthine railway station with state-of-the-art medical facilities and a whole bunch of housemates was not what she'd had in mind.

'Oh, there's usually about twenty of us around at any one time. They come and go—the Waystation's a refuge for outcasts. But Emmie and Jo run the place.' He rummaged in a drawer; unlike the cabinet, this wasn't automatically spitting out the desired item.

'And they took Leo and me in.'

Leo looked up; so did the rest of them. Framed in the doorway was a girl Hazel had never met, but whom she felt she knew intimately all the same. After all, it was Hazel who'd sketched Calypso based on Leo's description upon his return from Ogygia. She was quite gratified now to see how accurate her portrait had been, from the thick, caramel tresses to the slanted, slightly impish eyes, button nose, and wry lips that seemed to hide a perpetual smile. The only thing different was her attire. Leo had described her wearing a fitting white chiton. Now, Calypso's statuesque figure was obscured by the loose checked shirt and baggy jeans she'd donned. Over her clothes was a tool apron, its pockets bursting with pruners, shears, and scissors. In her hands, she carried a pair of rubber-coated gloves. She looked like she'd just come in from the garden, although Hazel couldn't imagine why she'd be gardening at this time of the night.

Calypso entered the room, followed by a pair of grey-haired women, the smaller of whom was dressed in similar fashion to her. The much larger one—thick through the waist and with biceps to rival Frank's—was clad in pyjama pants and an enormous t-shirt with the words WENCH WITH A WINCH printed across it. She had the little girl, Georgie, by the hand.

'Guys,' said Leo, 'meet my gorgeous _mamacita_ —ow!' Calypso punched him in the shoulder. ' _Calypso_ ,' he corrected, 'and the caretakers of Artemis's Waystation—'

'Hemithea,' said the lady in gardener's garb. 'But you can call me Emmie.'

'Josephine,' said the burly companion. 'But Jo's fine.'

'And you've already met their daughter Georgie,' Leo finished, as Georgie came to stand beside him. He tugged affectionately on one of her pipe-cleaner dreadlocks like he would a little sister's, although they were practically the same height (and Georgie was more sturdily built).

'Pleased to meet you,' Frank muttered, shuffling forward to shake hands as Leo introduced each of them in turn. Hazel copied him, feeling a bit dazed. It was a lot to absorb—just how many secrets had Leo been hiding?

'So you were saying this place is like a safe house for demigods?' said Jason.

'Demigods, Hunters, monsters,' Jo said, with a casual wave of her hand.

'Monsters?' Frank glanced warily at the solarium, as though one of the snakes might suddenly bust out and attack.

Jo shrugged. 'Sure. Not those snakes, but we've had _dracaenae_ and _karpoi_ visitors before—the Waystation helps anyone in need, as long as they're not dangerous to us. Not all monsters are evil, you know.'

'Wait, you said this was _Artemis's_ Waystation?' Reyna interrupted.

'That's right. Emmie and I used to be Hunters.'

Reyna stared. 'But you're—' Her mouth clamped shut abruptly and her cheeks went pink. 

'Ancient?' Leo supplied cheerfully.

Jo swatted Leo fondly around the head. 'We left,' she explained to Reyna. 'The immortality package doesn't exactly come with a pension.'

An unreadable expression came over Reyna's face.

'Anyway, that's why I couldn't tell you guys about this place. Artemis keeps it pretty hushed up.' Leo finally came up from his drawer with a tiny jar, which he held out to Hazel.

Emmie intercepted it and said sharply, 'What's this?'

'Burn ointment.' Leo jerked his chin towards Hazel's injured foot. 'She got blasted by the basilisks.'

'They're back again?' Calypso looked alarmed. 'I have to cover the moonlace!' She dashed out of the infirmary, presumably to check on her plants. Georgie ran off after her.

'Leo Valdez, this is sun cream!' Emmie said in exasperation. She deposited the jar back into the drawer and slammed it shut. 'Honestly. How many times have I told you not to muck around in here when you don't know a splint from a sling?'

'It's a burn—those are my department.'

' _Fire's_ your department, hun,' said Jo. 'And how would you know how to deal with burns when you can't get one?'

Leo gave her a sheepish grin while Emmie extracted the correct ointment. 

'Why don't you take Leo and his friends to the kitchen, Jo? Hazel and I will be along once I've seen to her foot.'

'Actually,' Jason said, 'we kinda need Leo's help now.' He quickly explained their quest. 

'Holy Hephaestus,' said Leo. 'Why didn't you lead with that?'

'We were distracted,' said Piper. 'Anyway, can you help or not?'

'Can I help? Can I ever! You came to the right man, Beauty Queen. Let's take this party to my workshop. I've got just the thing.'

OoOoO

After she'd seen the calibre of the Waystation's infirmary, Hazel wasn't surprised by how high-tech Leo's workshop was. Emmie showed her there after she'd expertly mended Hazel's burned foot. The others were already crowded around a screen on one of the walls of the decagon-shaped room.

Hazel took a moment to take in the impressive workshop. Each of the twelve walls was fitted with a different workspace. Half the room was set up like a forge, stocked with hand tools and machinery and even a fireplace built into one of the walls. This must be where Leo tinkered with his engines and stuff. Leo's bronze automaton dragon lay snoozing next to a giant contraption that seemed to be all twisted pipes and rods. 

The other half of the room, where the others were currently gathered, was more high-tech. The workstations here had electronic gadgets and boxes with knobs and buttons, some of which whirled freely on their axes. The large flat-screen the others were watching had an LCD-display of a world map. Attached by a thin cord to the bottom of it was a spinning bronze compass with a glittering crystal at its centre.

'My astrolabe,' Leo explained. 'It got me to Ogygia after Gaia…well, you know. Anyway, I just hacked into the Godly Positioning System—little trick I learned from Apollo.' He put a finger to his lips and winked. 'Don't tell the gods.'

A dozen multi-coloured dots appeared on the screen, which had now zoomed in on America. Each dot was labelled in miniscule letters that played havoc on Hazel's dyslexic eyes.

Leo squinted at the dots. 'I gotta figure out how to make those bigger.'

'There!' said Frank, who was the only one of them who'd escaped the demigod dyslexia curse. He pointed to a blinking purple dot somewhere in Ohio.

'Why's Thanatos's dot purple?' Leo asked. 'I would've thought it'd be black or something.'

Piper rolled her eyes. 'Who cares? It looks like he's in Cleveland. That's not too far from here!'

'We should go right away,' Reyna said. 'Before he moves off and we end up chasing him all over the States.'

'We'll need the map to pin him down. Is there any way we can take it with us?' Jason asked.

'Jo?' Leo turned to the burly ex-Hunter, who sat watching from her perch on a nearby work table.

Jo concentrated for a second, then waved her hand. The GPS map vanished, replaced by a palm-sized gadget that looked vaguely like one of those smartphone things that were all the rage these days.

'The Mist magic won't hold if I'm not with you, though,' Jo warned.

'I told you we needed to find a way to make that portable,' Leo complained. 'Mist-batteries—is that too much to ask?'

'Will you come with us, then?' Reyna asked.

Jo shook her head. 'I don't need to. I think your friend Hazel may be able to keep it going. She can manipulate the Mist, too, can't she?'

Hazel looked at her, surprised. It was true, but how could Jo possibly have known?

Jo smiled. 'I'm a daughter of Hecate,' she explained. 'I can sense when someone's been dabbling in my mother's tricks.'

'Oh. Um—'

'It's all right. Do you think you can manage the magic?'

Hazel considered the now-tiny GPS. The magic seemed to involve a warping of its actual dimensions instead of a straightforward visual illusion, like Jo had removed the extra space between the flat-screen's atoms to compact it into the smallest possible space. It was complicated, but Hazel had done plenty of complicated magic before. 'I think so.'

'You're all set, then.'

'Excellent!' Leo rubbed his hands together, but stopped abruptly when they started to spark. 'We'd better get going, then. What?' he said at Reyna's surprised look. 'Of course I'm coming. Can't very well leave Aqua-boy and the others in Tartarus. Besides, you'll need me to troubleshoot that thing.'

'Not so fast.' Calypso, who must have finished protecting her plants, had returned. Leo turned, crestfallen.

'Cal…'

She held up a large hamper filled with fruit and sandwiches. 'You're going to need this.'

Leo's face brightened. 'You're amazing.'

'Love you, too,' said Calypso, giving him a quick kiss. 'Just remember—'

'I know, if I die, you'll kill me.'

Calypso smiled. 'And you'd better be back in time for the moonlace harvest.'

Leo put a finger in his mouth and whistled. Festus the dragon gave a little snort, got up, and ambled over from the forge side of the workshop. Leo pressed a sequence of buttons along his neck and Festus compacted himself into a dragon-headed suitcase. 

'Never leave home without him,' Leo said. 'Trust me, he always comes in handy.' He kissed Calypso again. 'Be back soon, babe. I promise.'

Hazel took the GPS, memorising the magic that Jo had put into it. 'Come on, then,' she said. 'We've got a god of Death to find.'


	3. Tangling With Thanatos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank and the others track Thanatos down in Cleveland.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter runs roughly parallel to chapter 13-14 of CoL (time is still difficult in Tartarus!)

  
**XIII.S  
FRANK**

Once, Frank had lured hundreds of poison-breath monster cows on a crazy-high-speed chase through the canals of Venice. Compared to that, driving a sleek, black limo through downtown Cleveland—even what appeared to be the seediest section of the city—should have been a cinch.

All the same, Frank's insides felt the way they did whenever he drank milk, which for his lactose-intolerant stomach was a distinctly uneasy experience. He didn't like driving past the disreputable neon signs that marked out this area as a red-light district. Nor did he like the speculative looks its inhabitants—milling on the streets even at three in the morning—cast at their passing limo. He could almost hear Grandmother's commentary: _What are you doing in a place like this, Fai Zhang? Respectable men don't frequent such places._

Why did Death have to hang out in such a sleazy place?

'Must be the crime rate,' Jason said. Frank realised he must have spoken aloud. 'Cleveland's one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S., isn't it? High murder rate equals lots for Thanatos to do.'

'Take the next left, Frank!' Piper called from the back of the limo. Hazel had let the GPS expand back to full screen for the ride and it was now laid out on the bar table, where all four demigods who hadn't drawn shotgun were currently following their progress.

'That's not going to work,' Reyna said. 'Look how narrow the alley is. The limo will never fit.'

'We'll have to park and get out, then,' said Jason.

'Are you serious?' Frank waved one hand towards the hostile-looking people on the street. They looked ready for a car-jacking if presented the opportunity. 'You want us to park a limo _here?_ '

'It's not like we have a choice,' Jason pointed out.

Frank knew Jason was right. That didn't mean he liked it. He just knew they were going to lose the limo. He wasn't looking forward to discovering the penalty for losing legion property.

A police car went screaming by, sirens wailing, just as they pulled to a stop. They heard the screech of brakes as the cops veered round the corner and down the alley they'd intended to take. Warned off by the presence of the police, the street had emptied for now. It probably wouldn't last.

'Usually I'd say avoid the fuzz,' Leo said. 'But in this case, I have a feeling that's exactly where we wanna be.'

'Hurry, then.' Hazel shrank the flat-screen back down to handheld mode. Piper flung open the passenger doors. Jason leapt out of the front seat and immediately started running after the sirens. The girls followed suit.

Frank hesitated, wondering if they'd ever see the limo again if they all left it. Much as they were in a hurry to track down Thanatos, it'd be more problematic if, having found him, they lost their transportation and had to secure another vehicle to get to their next destination, wherever that would be.

'Don't worry,' said Leo. He flicked a couple of latches on his Festus-suitcase and within seconds, the enormous bronze dragon was perched on the roof of the limo. 'Festus'll stand guard, won't you, buddy?'

Festus gave an enthusiastic snort of flames.

'Great idea!' Frank said, relieved. He and Leo chased after Jason and the others.

They caught up to Jason and the girls after two turns down more narrow side streets. The police sirens sounded like they were just a few blocks away. Hazel held the portable GPS in front of her so that they could all see it. Leo had added in a red cross for their own location and judging by the display, they were nearly on top of Thanatos.

'There!' Piper pointed at a hooded figure just before it disappeared into yet another alleyway (just how many did Cleveland _have?_ ) Now that they'd almost found him, Frank felt a shiver of trepidation. His last encounter with Thanatos was still fresh in his memory, even though it had been nearly three years ago. The god had promised they would meet again in less favourable circumstances (not that nearly burning up his own lifeline to free Thanatos and then taking down a power-hungry giant had been what Frank would really describe as _favourable_ ). Frank had always been under the impression that their next encounter _would_ mean his time was up.

It still might. He was banking on Thanatos honouring a life debt (or should that be a death debt?) for releasing him, but gods weren't precisely what you would call honourable. For all Frank knew, Thanatos might charge more fire-of-life for his services.

True, he was prepared to sacrifice it for Percy, but it still gave him chills to think about it.

They found Thanatos leaning over a bloody heap. The god of Death looked up at the approach of the six demigods and frowned. He raised the long scythe in his hand. Smoke crept up from the hem of his robe.

'No—stop him, he's about to disappear!' Frank yelled.

'Thanatos, wait!' Hazel pleaded.

Something gave a fierce roar and jumped out of the sky, knocking the scythe from Thanatos's hand. A seven-foot-tall giant flattened the god beneath him. 

Piper screamed. Hazel dropped the GPS. Reyna and Jason drew their swords.

The next moment, a head with a pair of long, curly horns appeared at the top of the wall bordering the alley. The faun it belonged to—no, satyr, judging from the sharp, intelligent eyes—struggled over the top and landed next to the giant. Hanging off one of his horns was a colourful rasta cap with two holes poked through it. In his hand was a set of pan-pipes. 

'Grover!' Jason said in relief. 'What are you doing here?'

'Is that Tyson?' asked Frank. 

Percy's Cyclops half-brother looked up and grinned.

'Bad god is bothering you?' he said, indicating Thanatos, who was now sprawled flat on his stomach with Tyson's bulk pinning him down.

'No, we were just looking for him,' Frank said. 'We need him for—'

'How did you guys find him?' Leo demanded.

'Find him?' Grover said, puzzled. 'We were looking for _you_.' He patted his pipes. 'I played a tracking song. You know, woodland magic. I know Percy's in trouble. We wanted to help, too.'

'Um, guys,' Piper said, 'we should take this elsewhere. We seriously don't want to get caught in an alleyway with a dead body. Just saying.'

The sirens did indeed sound closer now.

'Let's go, then,' Reyna said. 'Don't let go of Death, Tyson—we don't want him running off.'

Tyson hauled Thanatos to his feet. Frank picked up his scythe. It was a lot heavier than he expected, though why he thought an instrument meant for reaping souls should be light, he had no idea. Together, they dragged Thanatos off to a different alley, this one devoid of murdered corpses.

'Is this another kidnapping, then?' growled Thanatos. 'Going to chain me up so that poor sod back there can't die?'

'No, we don't even know him,' said Frank. 'We just want—'

'Whoa!' Jason said suddenly. Tyson had just pulled Thanatos under a streetlight, illuminating his handsome face. 'Wait, you're not Thanatos!'

'Of course I am!' Thanatos said irritably.

'But—you're…Eros—'

Thanatos rolled his eyes. 'I assure you, I am not the god of love. And if that's who you wish to kidnap, you're in the wrong state. I believe Eros is in Hawaii at the moment.'

'Hawaii?' mouthed Leo.

'I think they just legalised same-sex marriage there,' Reyna said thoughtfully.

'Nobody's kidnapping anybody,' Piper said soothingly. Frank thought he sensed a smidge of Charmspeak in her tone. 'We were just gonna ask nicely.'

'Er, no,' Jason said. 'I mean, not no to asking nicely, but no, we're not looking for Eros.'

'Well, I take it you are not another agent of a primordial goddess come to hold me hostage to claim the Doors of me, either. If you would release me, young Cyclops, perhaps we can have this conversation in a civilised manner.'

Tyson gave Thanatos a suspicious look. 'You won't run away?'

'It's okay, Tyson,' Piper said. 'You won't disappear on us, will you, Mr Thanatos?'

Tyson let go. Thanatos shook himself and smoothed down his robes. He held out his hand to Reyna for his scythe, but she frowned back. His lips quirked.

'I suppose I could listen to what you say. I must admit it's not every day I get ambushed by a group of demigods. It is perhaps refreshing to be sought out, for a change.' He looked more closely at each of them. 'Well, well, well,' he said, as his eyes lit on Frank, Hazel, and Leo. 'It's even more rare to run into old friends. Surely you appreciate the danger of tangling with me more than once?'

'We're demigods,' said Leo with a shrug. 'Tangling with Death is an occupational hazard.'

Frank stepped forward. 'Look, Thanatos, we're sorry to bother you, but we really need your help.'

'What service could I possibly provide? I don't do assassinations, you know. That's Ares's department. I'm just the delivery man, you might say.'

'It's about the Doors of Death.'

There was a pause. 'Those are very much still under my control, Frank Zhang. I do not think you have to worry about them being misused again.'

'Yes, I know, that's why we're here—we need to send them to Tartarus.'

'Now why would I do that?'

'Because our friends are trapped down there,' Piper said. She launched into the tale, wrapping each word with so much earnest conviction that if Frank had been Thanatos, he would have lowered his doors to Tartarus with a snap of his fingers.

But either Thanatos had some natural resistance to Charmspeak or the god of Death was just far too used to ignoring impassioned pleas and sob stories, because he just rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking like he _might_ take Piper's words into consideration. 

Frank pulled the little fire-proof pouch he always carried from his breast pocket. He let the tip of the firewood inside peek out just enough for Thanatos to see.

'Three of us released you once, Thanatos. Hazel, me—and Percy. I think maybe you owe us a favour.'

He held his breath, afraid that Thanatos might remind him, as he once had, that death wasn't fair, that just because you did something good for someone didn't mean you deserved to have it repaid. 

Thanatos rubbed his wrists as though remembering Gaia's chains around them. Finally, he said, 'You will have to find an appropriate anchoring location. The Doors of Me cannot reach to Tartarus from just anywhere in the mortal world.'

Frank grinned in relief. 'Thanks, Thanatos. Where would you suggest we anchor, then?'

'It has to be deep in the earth. Epirus, for instance.'

'We can't go to Epirus,' Hazel said. 'It's too far away. It'd take weeks! We have less than twenty-four hours to get to them.'

'Hawaii,' Jason said suddenly. Everyone stared at him.

'Um, we're not looking for Eros, remember?' Leo said. 

Jason ignored him. 'Remember when we went surfing there with your dad, Piper? The volcanic caves—those go really deep.'

'Ah.' Thanatos inclined his head. 'Yes. That might work.'

Again, he held out his hand for his scythe. This time Reyna handed it over. It shrank the moment it touched Thanatos's hand, becoming a stylus. Thanatos pulled out an iPad mini and swiped the scythe-stylus across its screen. He double-tapped a globe icon and brought up an app that looked strikingly like the GPS map Leo had hacked, complete with glowing dots, although these were all red. Frank wondered if it located dead people.

Thanatos zoomed in on Hawaii. 'I presume you will need time to get to this location.'

'Can't you, I dunno, transport us there?' Grover said hopefully.

'No.' Thanatos sent his iPad to lockscreen. Frank was momentarily stunned by the wallpaper—Death's own Mythomagic card, complete with three stars for his attack points (3,000 in normal circumstances, 3,500 if your opponent attacked first). He held his thin, skeletal hand out to Hazel. 'May I?'

Hazel nearly fumbled the handheld GPS as she handed it over. Thanatos pressed his thumb to the screen as if passing the gadget's security lock. Did gods have fingerprint recognition? When he lifted his thumb, an icon appeared below it, labelled 'iDeath.'

'When you are ready for me, use that to let me know. I will meet you at your location.' Thanatos returned the gadget to Hazel. 'I have work to do in the meantime.' He nodded to Frank, returned his stylus to scythe mode, and tapped it on the ground. As soon as it touched the concrete, Thanatos vanished, leaving a cloud of black smoke.

'Whoa,' said Leo.

'We have a problem,' Piper said. 'Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific. How are we gonna get there in the limo?'

'The _limo?_ ' said Grover.

'Maybe we should get back to it first?' Reyna suggested. 'We can figure it out from there.'

Frank led the way back to their parking spot, hoping Festus had indeed managed to ward off any potential limo-thieves. When they arrived, it turned out that not only had the dragon safeguarded their ride, he'd done it in a pretty unorthodox way.

Where there had previously been an elegant Roman limousine, there was now a shiny bronze double-decker coach with a long tail in place of the trunk. Festus's head arched proudly from the hood. The ground in front bore scorch marks in the sidewalk.

'I think that solves our problem,' Leo said, even though Frank couldn't see how merging their limousine with a dragon automaton solved anything. 'Good thing I brought Festus. Hop in, everyone.'

'How is _that_ getting us to Hawaii?' Piper demanded.

As if in response, Festus spread his wings. Grover gulped. 'Are you sure that's safe?'

'I'll tune him up as we go along,' Leo promised. 'Make a few adjustments, fiddle with the engine. Just give me a couple of hours.' He turned to Tyson with a gleam in his eyes. 'And maybe some Cyclops workmanship, big guy?'

Tyson grinned. 'I can help!'

'We don't have a lot of time, Leo,' Piper warned. 

'I got this, Pipes. I'll get us there in time, and I'll get us there in style.'

Hoping Leo did indeed have it well in hand, Frank boarded the Festus-bus. Or was it a Festus-limo?

At least they no longer needed to drive for this leg of the journey. Maybe he'd even get some sleep en route to Hawaii. It had been a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ... as a thank you to my readers, I'm offering giftfics for Christmas! Here's how this works. If you would like to receive a mini ficlet for Christmas/New Year (or whatever holiday you celebrate, or if you don't celebrate anything, fun free present!) send a request my way. You can leave this as a review, or send me a PM, or if you want to track me down elsewhere, I'm also on LiveJournal ([shiiki](http://shiiki.livejournal.com) or [shiikifics](http://shiikifics.livejournal.com)) and tumblr ([dotshiiki](http://dotshiiki.tumblr.com)). 
> 
> Here's what to leave in the request:
> 
> (Stuff I need to know)
> 
>  **Characters:** [ _list the characters you want in the ficlet, 1-3 works best; bear in mind that more than that can be pretty tough to pull off in a short ficlet!_ ]  
>  **Prompt:** [ _this can be anything from a specific scenario you'd like to see (e.g. 'Percy and Annabeth visit an aquarium and adopt a pet fish') to a few lines you want included in a fic (e.g. some dialogue), or just a few prompt words (e.g. 'silver', 'rainbows', 'waves' etc. etc.) ... basically something I can use for inspiration_ ]*
> 
> (Optional stuff)  
>  **Pairings:** [ _if you want shipfic, give a pairing; otherwise, I'll probably make it genfic or background canon pairings_ ]*  
>  **Squicks:** [ _stuff you really don't like to read about so I can avoid putting it in_ ]  
>  **Rating:** [ _max rating you're comfortable with_ ]**  
>  **Fandom:** [ _I'm assuming that those of you following my current fic are PJO fans, but I've also dabbled in plenty of other fandoms and am happy to branch out if that's your thing. As long as it's something I know well enough, I'll see what I can do!_ ]
> 
> *Note-I'm really bad at writing pairings that contradict canon pairings, so although I'm not going to say no to those because hey, challenge! ... if you want something like Jason/Annabeth, prepare to have it turn out not exactly as you expected (i.e. short on the romance).
> 
> **Another note-I will not write anything above a M rating, sorry.
> 
> And that's it! Gift ficlets will probably be around 500 words (any longer depends on the muse). And that's my Christmas gift to fandom and especially those of you who have brightened my day by being willing to interact with me and my stories!


	4. Stereotypical Uplifting Crap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo and Percy have a heart-to-heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place right after [chapter 17](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11802306/chapters/26761257). It was inspired by **supernaturally-percyjackson** , who thought we should get to see Percy dealing with the aftermath of Tartarus and suggested that one of the guys could help him with that. Well, who better to deal with some tough shit than Leo?

**XVII.S**  
**LEO**

Festus didn't really need a tune-up, but Leo rarely passed up an opportunity to fiddle with engines. Especially when they were combined with versatile bronze automaton dragons. Besides, he'd never tried limousinifying Festus before. You never knew what might go wrong with a new experiment, especially one that had been put together under intense time pressure. 

He'd done a pretty fine job, though, if he dared say so himself. (Okay, so Festus had done half the job when they'd been chasing down Thanatos.) The Festusmobile had surpassed all expectations for their flight to Hawaii. Tyson had been a great help in making the sea-land transitions smooth—you couldn't beat Cyclops workmanship for speed and hardiness. It probably helped as well that they'd started with excellent raw material. Say what you like about the Romans, they kept their cars in real good shape. And dang, that interior was fine. He was gonna miss it when they returned the limo portion of their ride to the Romans. 

Satisfied that everything was running fine, Leo gave the purring engine a pat and popped back out onto the open upper deck. To his surprise, Percy was sitting cross-legged at the bow next to the bronze dragon figurehead. He had his chin in his hand, giving him a deep, brooding look.

Leo meant to let him be—if Percy was out here alone, he probably wasn't looking for company—but when he tiptoed past, meaning to join the others below deck, he accidentally dropped the wrench in his hand. 

Percy looked up at the clatter.

'Hey bro,' Leo said casually.

Percy just nodded. There was a tightness around his jaw, like he was clenching his teeth.

Leo picked up the wrench and turned it over awkwardly. 'You, uh—you okay?'

'Yeah, fine,' Percy said, in a voice that didn't sound fine at all.

For a second, Leo considered just moving on and letting Percy be. Instead, he stuffed the wrench in his pocket and took a seat next to Percy.

Percy didn't tell Leo to get lost. Leo guessed that was a good sign. They both watched the ocean roll by under the cloudless sky. There was a thin streak of pink just over the horizon like the goddess of dawn was slowly turning the page of a new day.

Leo wondered what was on Percy's mind. Was it Tartarus? He'd seemed okay when they were telling the tale earlier, even joking around about it. Though now that Leo thought about it, Percy hadn't actually related any part of the journey himself. He'd mostly left it to Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, and Will, chiming in only to crack a joke or two.

Jokes aside, Leo had to admit the story had been pretty horrifying. And he guessed his friends had already made it tamer in the telling, glossing over the worst stuff. Not that he blamed them. If _he'd_ gone through Tartarus, he didn't think he'd be keen to relive it in vivid detail. 

And Percy, Annabeth, and Nico had been through Tartarus _twice_ now.

How Percy could even joke about it after all that…well, actually Leo could understand. The crappier the situation, the more humour you needed to deal with it. No one got that better than Leo.

'You know,' Percy said, breaking the silence at last, 'as a kid, I got kicked out of a lot of schools.'

Leo stared at him, blinking stupidly. Of all the things he'd imagined to be on Percy's mind, this wasn't it.

'My mom always tried to tell me it wasn't my fault. I always knew it _was_ , but she believed I wasn't a bad kid anyway.'

Leo shifted uncomfortably, unsure where Percy was going with this. The story was painfully familiar to Leo, but why Percy would choose to share his personal history out of the blue…and with _Leo_ of all people… It wasn't like they were the closest among their little group. To begin with, the whole Calypso thing had always made things a bit awkward between them. And then Leo was probably the last person anyone would choose to bare their soul to, especially when Hazel or Piper were available. Hell, even Jason and Frank dealt better with feelings.

Leo repaired machines. People, not so much.

'Hey man,' he said, 'I don't know if I'm the best person—um, not that I'm not here if you need me, but do you want me to get Annabeth, or—'

'No, don't. Sorry.' Percy ran a hand through his hair, making it stand on end. 'I guess I do have some stuff to work through, but—she kinda knows already. She saw it all in Tartarus.' He sighed. 'I don't want to remind her about it now. And the others—yeah, I'd rather not have them picking everything apart right now.' He met Leo's eyes and shrugged. 'You know them. Jason would do the whole serious dad thing. Frank would get all worried and try to suggest solutions. Tyson—well, he'd probably cry. He gets sad when I do. And Grover—we've got an empathy link. I think that's…'

'Too much intimacy?' suggested Leo.

'Yeah.'

'Mm. You're right.' He remembered the way Hazel had insisted on lending her sympathetic ear to his heartache over Calypso when he'd first left Ogygia. It had been good for him, but there were times as well when he'd rather just bury the pain. 'The girls would start psychoanalysing all your feelings and emotions.' He imitated Piper's voice: ' _Tell us what's wrong, Percy. It'll help!_ '

Percy laughed. 'They're—well, they're not wrong.' He crossed and uncrossed his arms, looking undecided about something—probably wondering whether he did want to talk to Leo after all. 

What if he _did_ want to? Leo squirmed a little. He meant what he'd said—if Percy wanted him to listen, he would; whatever awkwardness there'd been in the past, they _were_ friends. But seriously, what did Leo know about feelings and shit?

Then he realised that ironically, his awkwardness about emotions might actually make him the best person to talk to Percy right now.

Percy wasn't looking for someone to empathise and make him feel better. He didn't want platitudes or assurances. He just needed someone to act as a foil so he could work things out on his own.

'You don't have to listen, seriously—' Percy said at last.

'No—look, you don't want the serious, psychoanalytical crap, right?' Leo spread his arms. 'Well, that's me. Not an inch of psychoanalytically bullshit in this body. Hit me with it.'

A faint smile flickered across Percy's face. He uncrossed his legs and hugged his knees to his chest. Leo pulled his wrench back out of his pocket along with a couple of bolts and screws and fiddled with them while waiting for Percy to begin. 

'I got into a fight once I was—oh, I dunno, I think it was third grade, maybe? There was this kid who sneered at my mom 'cause she worked at Sweet On America. So I pushed him into a ditch. He needed stitches and everything. I got in trouble for pushing him, of course, but the thing is, the ditch wasn't there before I pushed him. It just opened up in the ground. No one blamed me for that part. I mean, how could a kid make the ground split apart?'

Leo was starting to see where this was going. He nodded to let Percy know he was listening. 

'Except I could.' Percy looked down. His fingers were making little wavy patterns on his shins. 'All the stuff that I thought were freak accidents—'

'Were really you,' Leo finished. In his head, he wasn't picturing a young Percy and a mysteriously opened-up ditch, but himself standing outside a burning warehouse. His hands clenched tightly around his wrench. 'Yeah, I get it.'

Percy gave him a shrewd, sideways look. 'I guess you do.' He took a deep breath and continued, 'Even after I got claimed, a lot of stuff I did was still accidental. I mean, all the exploding toilets and flooding rivers and even the first time I summoned a hurricane—I didn't even know I could do that shit. I thought it was insane that the gods could be scared of me, this screw-up who didn't have a clue how to control his powers. And even when I learned how to use them, I never really thought they were bad. I mean, I was fighting monsters. It was all pretty black and white—we were on the right side, that made me the good guy, right?

'Annabeth tried to tell me once. She said I'd scared her when I choked Akhlys in Tartarus—er, the first time in Tartarus, that is. That threw me a bit, but I thought, well, I'm only ever gonna use my powers for good. And if I was dangerous to our enemies, that was a good thing, right? I mean, we had giants to take down and all.'

'Uh, yeah,' Leo said, since Percy was looking at him expectantly. 'The gods mess with people you love, you just wanna hit them back where it hurts. And I'm not just saying that. Didn't I take down old queen dirt-face herself? To be honest, I don't lose much sleep over it.'

'Well, we knew Gaia was evil. But it's like—what happens if we go too far? I mean, the whole memory loss thing was completely messed up this time. I thought _Annabeth_ was the bad guy. I could've killed her. I—I almost did.'

So that was what had Percy's head all twisted up. Leo felt a wave of sympathy for his friend. That sort of thing could totally mess you up. He tried to remember what the others had said about their encounters with the _arai_ and Eris in Tartarus.

'That was monsters messing with your head, right?' When Percy didn't reply, Leo gestured to the dragon figurehead. 'Take Festus here. He was created to protect Camp Half-Blood. Then he went rogue for a bit—I heard he nearly fried a bunch of demigods when they found him.'

Percy raised his eyebrows. 'Yeah, I was one of them.'

Leo whistled under his breath. 'I never knew that. But you don't really hold it against him, do you? I mean, it wasn't his fault.' Leo patted Festus's head. 'Short-circuit in the brain, right, buddy? Look at you now—great friend to all demigods, aren't you?' He turned back to Percy. 'My point is, I guess we aren't all that different from machines. Sometimes we go a bit crazy in the head, too, do some crazy shit. But once you sort out whatever's malfunctioning, Bob's your uncle.' Leo scratched his head. 'Hm, that phrase takes on a new meaning when you actually know a god—er, Titan—called Bob.'

'I'm not sure I've really straightened everything out,' Percy admitted. 'Sure, I've got my memories back now, but after everything that happened…' He sighed. 'I guess I just always thought I'd know who my enemies were. I used to be so sure, but it's not so simple any more. I'm kinda scared now that I know how much damage I _could_ do—how many people I could hurt if I get it wrong.'

Leo started fidgeting with the tools in his hands again. There was a ring of truth to Percy's words. Although Percy had never actually hurt him, Leo _had_ been scared of the dude's crazy powers before.

But Leo also knew what it felt like to have supernatural powers you didn't know how to control, and to be terrified that you'd done something unspeakable with them.

'Did I ever tell you how my mom died?'

Percy shook his head. 'It was—er, it was a fire, wasn't it?'

'Yeah.' A shiver ran over him as it always did when he thought of that awful night. The same way his friends had skipped the gory details of Tartarus, Leo didn't want to linger on the specifics of the old accident. He described in quick, brief strokes the circumstances of the workshop fire that had killed his mom. Even after a decade, the memory was still painfully clear—Gaia's soft, creepy voice threatening his mom; the intensity of the flames that burst from his hands when he tried to push her back; the bright red smokescreen across his vision before he passed out.

Leo didn't share these details with Percy, but they burned in his brain all the same. He'd had ten years to deal with it and he'd learned to accept his powers, but the guilt had never really left him. It probably never would.

'I knew it was Gaia—and even if I hadn't started the fire, she would have killed my mom anyway. But it was also me, you know?'

Percy's hands clenched into fists. 'Gods, Leo, I'm sorry.'

Leo waved it away. 'I'm just trying to say, I get it. You got water, I got fire. Jason's got the lightning, Hazel's got the Hecate-damned Mist. Annabeth and Reyna scare the crap outta me _without_ any supernatural help, and let's not get started on the spooky shit Nico can do. Point is, you're not the only one who could lose it and do a lotta damage.'

'So you're saying we're all ticking time bombs.'

Leo smacked him lightly against the shin with his wrench. ' _No,_ stupid. I'm saying you got us. We all know what it's like, even those of us who didn't fall through the Tartarus looking glass.'

Percy uncurled his fingers and scratched his leg. 'How do we ever figure out if we're doing the right thing?'

'Hey man, I got no answers. Maybe you can tell me when you figure it out.'

Percy let out a long, slow breath. 'Growing up sucks.'

'Tell me about it.'

They sat in companionable silence for a while. Leo fiddled a bit more with the spare parts in his pocket, absently forming a miniature chariot. He rolled it over to Percy.

'So,' Leo said, watching Percy roll the chariot up and down his legs, 'can we pretend I totally said some wise and uplifting stereotypical crap?'

Percy laughed. 'Sure. Better than actually listening to the uplifting stereotypical crap.' He reached out and touched Leo's shoulder. 'But seriously, man. I appreciate it.'

They looked at each other and grinned. In the horizon, the sun climbed over the coastline. The Festusmobile continued to sail steadily north, taking them homeward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it for this little series of outtakes! I hope you've enjoyed them. I have a few others kicking around on tumblr that were requests that I wrote during PJO week in August, but they don't quite fit the flow of the story. But if you want to see those posted here, let me know! 
> 
> Happy Winter Solstice to you all, and for those of you who requested Christmas giftfics, look out for them in a few days! I'll be kicking off with the first in line-- **Latiwings**!


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